Material Intelligence: Cross-Organizational Collaboration Driven by Detailed Material Data

Abstract

The application of the Internet of Things (IoT) technologies has the potential to reshape inter-organizational collaboration across industries. This study explores the influences of the use of IoT for information sharing in the steel industry networks. Shared data may have multiple uses, including optimization, integration, automatization, and adaptation of objects in their environments. Our study indicates that increase in the information intensity of products and processes changes the nature of competition in the industry. To date, research on IoT has mainly proposed its use in independent nodes and clusters possessing excessive data from their own actions. Conversely, our study emphasizes the benefits that accrue from intensified collaboration. Our findings emphasize that IoT enabled material intelligence can restructure companies’ roles and responsibilities in the steel industry supply networks. This can be achieved by bridging the structural holes in the inter-organizational networks.